Thread: Pen Kits

Originally Posted by plantagenon

I am been told there are some cheap pen kit coming soon. Will update when I hear more

When you saw "Cheap" are you talking about quality or price?
You usually get what you pay for.

Les

I would rather they raise the quality than drop the price.

I find it embarrassing and very annoying, when customers who have paid good money for one of my pens, only to have to bring it back because it has transmission problems, or the nib section has fallen off their Seirra, or the plating has started to look crappy after only a month of use, or the clip has bent outwards because it is made of crappy metal, I could go on and on, but I wont.

Originally Posted by Ironwood

I would rather they raise the quality than drop the price.

I find it embarrassing and very annoying, when customers who have paid good money for one of my pens, only to have to bring it back because it has transmission problems, or the nib section has fallen off their Seirra, or the plating has started to look crappy after only a month of use, or the clip has bent outwards because it is made of crappy metal, I could go on and on, but I wont.

If there is ever a set of components made that doesn't have any of the above mentioned problems, that could be one expensive set of components.

Les

Originally Posted by Ironwood

I would rather they raise the quality than drop the price.

I find it embarrassing and very annoying, when customers who have paid good money for one of my pens, only to have to bring it back because it has transmission problems, or the nib section has fallen off their Seirra, or the plating has started to look crappy after only a month of use, or the clip has bent outwards because it is made of crappy metal, I could go on and on, but I wont.

Thats why I give them away rather than sell them, No warranty of a free-bee

Originally Posted by Ironwood

I would rather they raise the quality than drop the price.

I find it embarrassing and very annoying, when customers who have paid good money for one of my pens, only to have to bring it back because it has transmission problems, or the nib section has fallen off their Seirra, or the plating has started to look crappy after only a month of use, or the clip has bent outwards because it is made of crappy metal, I could go on and on, but I wont.

Gee Brad I am not sure where you are buying your kits from ? but maybe you should tell us so we dont end up buying the same crap ? I buy alot of my stuff straight from China or Tawain and have not had much trouble I would however be very picky if I am after kits for special purposes.

I would be happy to see what sort of kit/kits will be up for sale because I don't believe just because they are cheap they will be crap. I will be keeping an eye out so please let me know greg because I am sure I will have customers who want them.

Cheers Ian

I would certainly like to see a list of pen kits to avoid
Willy

Originally Posted by Willy Nelson

I would certainly like to see a list of pen kits to avoid
Willy

If you want to test a pen kit, give it to a high school kid.
They use them for hrs a day.
Lets start cheap, slimline or stream line, the coating comes off back to base metal in 4-6 weeks.
Sierra (not sure who's), mech can die quite quickly with constant use (at least these can be replaced).
Polaris (not sure who's), mine are quite a few years old so maybe they were better at the start, but the 3 I've given of those are still going.

I haven't gone past those in kit cost, not prepared to spend 20 bucks on a kit if its the same.

Maybe someone wants to add to this list

I am interested to see what will happen too. But let's face it - if you are paying $2 for a pen kit you surely can't expect 24ct solid gold unless you are living in a dream world. You can't even expect 18ct solid gold for a $50 pen kit. If you want that quality - look at Mont Blanc they have one on for sale at $600,000 and the beauty is you don't even have to put it together.

For what it's worth I tend towards the chrome or gunmetal platings as being more hard wearing . Otherwise the "upgrades" seem to be good value.

Originally Posted by Grommett

For what it's worth I tend towards the chrome or gunmetal platings as being more hard wearing . Otherwise the "upgrades" seem to be good value.

I'm with you on that Chrome is a good plating but I am really a fan of Gun Metal I reckon it's great.

Cheers Ian

Originally Posted by Willy Nelson

I would certainly like to see a list of pen kits to avoid
Willy

It's not so much as to what components to avoid as it is what plating's to avoid such as 24K Gold, Gun Metal, Black Titanium, Rose Gold, Black Enamel, Satin Gold, Antique Brass, and Copper.
Leaves you with Chrome, Titanium Gold, Rhodium.
All these plating's will eventually wear off sooner or later depending on usage.


Les

Heck PSI is flooding the market with hideous cheap pen kits now. How much cheaper and uglier can they get??? Never in my right mind would I ever buy any of those hideous kits. If I had a customer that wanted them I would send him to someone else. You get so limited in the blanks you can put on them. I even vowed to never make any of these bolt kits. I personally do not like them.

What i would like to see happen to the industry is to have some formality restored. Make some low stated yet classy kits with interchangable parts and tubes. Also would love to see kits that have smaller tubes but also a substantial ability to cast things to on both the cap and barrel. I think you could see more exciting looking pens if this were possible. We do not need more kits, we need less kits and then make them affordable and clean.

JTT, there are two lines of thought, 1. if you are retired and have limited income, the cheaper kits provide a means of enjoying yourself and opportunity to give to others.
2. If you decide you want quality and something that will last, and are able to afford it, then yes, we need true quality, both in plating and mechanisms, my concern is that the high end kits are not as good as they might be for the money paid for them.
Amos

Originally Posted by PenTurner

JTT, there are two lines of thought, 1. if you are retired and have limited income, the cheaper kits provide a means of enjoying yourself and opportunity to give to others.
2. If you decide you want quality and something that will last, and are able to afford it, then yes, we need true quality, both in plating and mechanisms, my concern is that the high end kits are not as good as they might be for the money paid for them.
Amos

Amos


I agree with you but flooding the market with more and more cheap kits is definetly not the answer. There are so many kits on the market today it makes your head spin. Many are just knock-offs of what was once a successful kit. Example Sierras and cigars. How many different versions are there. I believe way too many people want a piece of the action but there is just so much money to go around and they try to keep inventing new ways to get your money. I do believe the pen turning craze has run its course. You see so many lathes and pen turning equipment coming up for sale these days. I think people have started to realize this is not a money producing hobby but instead a money pit and people are starting to become aware of this.

You state about making the pens and giving them away. What are you actually making when you come to think about it. You take a piece of timber or acrylic that someone else made or mother nature made and turn it round and press fit an entire kit to make a pen and then say look what I made. I belong to and used to use it alot when I first started doing scrollsaw work and getting my business started. It was a promotional company that you could buy items from and have your logo or name printed on. I used to buy pens and hand them out with my name on it as a promotion and thank you gift. I still get samples from this company and let me tell you the quality of pens does rival what some of these cheap kits I have seen sold today by so called pen turners.

Now please do not get me wrong. It is a good hobby to keep one active and it does feel good to give away one of your pens but that is not the issue here. It is about quality of the kits today on the market. I believe if these so called pen companies want to they could create better quality and better looking pens. Look at some of the big top name pen makers and look at the sleek lines and creative use of materials. Not one of these Chineses or taiwain companies duplicate this. I turn pens, yes. but i do make my own blanks for the most part and this is what at least gives me some satifaction when I say I made that pen. Just an opinion.